My savings and checking accounts used to be with the same bank, and I could transfer money from my savings account to checking over the phone. When the holidays came, it was really easy for me to make a few phone calls and spend my savings.
But then came the new year, and a new resolution to save.
I decided to place my savings account with a separate bank so that I didn't have easy access to those funds, and start rebuilding.
If you had a similar holiday season — where you spent more than expected, planned, or preferred — and your goal is to save more money this year, it will not just happen overnight. Like I did, you'll have to rebuild the habit of saving and recommit to your budget.
Here are three small ways to get back on track with growing your savings that will add up over time:
1. Refresh your budget
Gather all of your financial documents and understand what your finances look like. Go through your bank and credit card statements and really look at the bills that will be coming in the mail this month. Assess the damage, if any. Knowing where your money is and what debts you are carrying can help you make a game plan.
Your budget may need to be overhauled given the amount of money you spent or debt you are carrying. This will not happen overnight because you will need to track your spending (the best budgeting apps make this easy) and see how you are spending your money. This could be a good time to reduce spending or try a no-spend challenge until you get your budget under control.
I do a no-spend January every year: You only spend money on essentials and paying bills. And if you are dreading that credit card bill coming this month, no-spend January can help you pay that bill down faster.
2. Set savings goals
"Save more money" isn't an effective savings goal.
"Save $1,000 for a trip to California," however, is.
It's always important to have an emergency fund, and what I find really helpful is a sinking fund. A sinking fund is money you save towards a specific financial goal, like a vacation. It can be used for anything, like saving money for gifts next year so you don't have to dip into your savings to enjoy the holidays or travel home next year.
Remember, plenty of banks offer savings "buckets" to help you set up sinking funds for different goals.
Set your savings goals soon … or re-set them if you feel like you may have missed the mark in the past. Take stock of where you are right now and see where you can improve.
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3. Automate your savings
I can't say this enough: Set it and forget it. Put your savings on autopilot by logging into your bank's website or app and choosing regular, automatic contributions.
You will see your savings grow much faster by automating them.
I will go one step further and say that your savings should be in an account that is not easy to get to — maybe even at a separate bank — to help you "forget it." This one step made it harder for me to spend through my savings. I really had to think about the reason I wanted to access that account because it required more effort to get to it … so I left that money alone to grow over time.
This article was originally published in January 2024.
